How long do tyres last?

[Mandarin]

Just got our van back after 8 months in for repairs and found this.

Tyres are five years old, at max pressure (65psi) and been stored in the shade. They will be replaced before our first trip.

The van was first registered in 2020 by which time the tyres were 2 years old.

 

[Buckman]

Just got our van back after 8 months in for repairs and found this.

Tyres are five years old, at max pressure (65psi) and been stored in the shade. They will be replaced before our first trip.

The van was first registered in 2020 by which time the tyres were 2

Are you sure they are your original tyres?

 

[Mandarin]

Are you sure they are your original tyres?

Yes, no doubts about that.

I think the point is that regardless of age tyres need inspection at regular intervals.

My car tyres run well below the max pressure and weight, the caravan tyres operate at their limits of both.

 

[Dustydog]

As an aside did Elddis or the Dealer offer any recompense for the 8 months off the road?

 

[ProfJohnL]

Tyres last as long as they do, not very helpful I know, but there are many factors that can degrade a tyre, and unless you can control all of them tyres will degrade simply by age if nothing else.

There is no defined life expectancy for a tyre, nor is there any legislation that says a caravan tyre should be changed at any age, The requirement is simply the tyre should be roadworthy.

However the UK caravan industry does suggest tyres regardless of apparent condition should be change somewhere between 5 and 7 years.

 

[Mandarin]

As an aside did Elddis or the Dealer offer any recompense for the 8 months off the road?

No, it was finalised as an insurance claim. A long story on another thread with no credit to Eldiss.

It was nothing to do with a dealer though, the dealer we have it serviced at couldn't have been more supportive.

 

[shouldknowbettor]

Just got our van back after 8 months in for repairs and found this.

Tyres are five years old, at max pressure (65psi) and been stored in the shade. They will be replaced before our first trip.

The van was first registered in 2020 by which time the tyres were 2 years old.

View attachment 4956

I'm guessing from that bit of the logo they're ovations? Just thrown some away for the same thing both outside and on the inner tread. Looks like they cooked yours when applying the logo.

TBH I don't know why you'd use them (not you specifically) when even punters like us can get Kenda or GT Radials so cheap - both great quality tyres from respected manufacturers designed specifically for trailers/caravans. I guess companies must be saving a few more quid going with these.

 

[otherclive]

I'm guessing from that bit of the logo they're ovations? Just thrown some away for the same thing both outside and on the inner tread. Looks like they cooked yours when applying the logo.

TBH I don't know why you'd use them (not you specifically) when even punters like us can get Kenda or GT Radials so cheap - both great quality tyres from respected manufacturers designed specifically for trailers/caravans. I guess companies must be saving a few more quid going with these.

I’ve used both GT Radial and Kendo trailer specific tyres on caravans. No qualms whatsoever.

 

[GaryB]

When I first started with caravans several years ago, Avon Super-van were a common fitment and I always used them but from what I understand they now stipulate they aren't suitable for caravans.

 

[shouldknowbettor]

You'd like to hope that tyres made for caravans are different to ones made for vans. Ones for vans etc. would be designed to be frequently rotated / used with widely varying loads as well as braking performance being critical, whereas a trailer/caravan tyre should be optimised for large, static loads. So Avon sound like they have the right approach. Like I say when a Kenda Mastertrail is £60 + fitting, and a GT ST6000 can be bought for under £50 + fitting, why bother with anything else?

 

[Mandarin]

Sadly many manufacturers follow the cheap path. An example from another industry is boats, buy at £100k+ Beneteau sailing yacht and they fit brass seacocks (the valves that let water in and out for engine cooling, toiler drain etc) which have a service life of 5 years before they corrode away, if they snap the boat sinks. Corrosion resistant versions would cost them about £100 more per boat.
So boatyards have a great revenue replacing seacocks.

 

[otherclive]

Sadly many manufacturers follow the cheap path. An example from another industry is boats, buy at £100k+ Beneteau sailing yacht and they fit brass seacocks (the valves that let water in and out for engine cooling, toiler drain etc) which have a service life of 5 years before they corrode away, if they snap the boat sinks. Corrosion resistant versions would cost them about £100 more per boat.
So boatyards have a great revenue replacing seacocks.

It was not uncommon to have naval auxiliaries fitted with steel valves in sea water systems. The ship’s maintenance team would make sure that they had plenty of concrete available to reinforce them if required. So it’s not just caravan makers that cut costs to the detriment of lower life cycle costs.

 

[shouldknowbettor]

Just re-looking at the issue on the Ovation tyre up there ^^, i actually would suspect that your tyres been left flat for some time at the dealer. The location/nature of the cracks is just right for sitting on the rim for a while, and it looks a little deformed too which makes me suspicious.

They're not great tyres though, probably no loss now you have to replace them. Before you do though, roll the tyre round so the cracks are at the bottom, then let the air out and send us a picture

 

[ProfJohnL]

Caravan manufacturers are not alone in the ranks of trying to keep manufacturing costs down. That is an activity most will will carry out simply because it's good business sense to do it, but it's a question of how it's done, and whether it was properly researched and validated.

In this instance I'm inclined to agree with the previous post, where the pattern of the damage suggests the tyre lost its inflation and may have sat on its rim. If that is the case, then I don't think even the most expensive tyre would have survived undamaged.

I don't think the suggestion of turning the wheel to put damage section at the bottom and deflating it to see if the evidence fits, is a realistic suggestion, it serves no practical purpose in this case, unless the OP is going to push the repair shop for damages for failing to prevent avoidable damage to customers property whilst in their care . If the business is accredited to BS EN ISO9001 quality management then the company would have an operational policy about care of customer property. But few of any caravan dealerships are likely to have sought such accreditation. And it would be difficult to prove.

I rarely take the manufacture's side on this forum,
But all tyres sold in the UK do have to meet certain standards of construction, l have little doubt that provided the tyre has not been abused even the cheapest ones would last long enough for most caravanner's needs, and will normally reach their 7th birthday before suffering a wear related failure.

I don't consider punctures caused by external sharp objects, air leaks at the valve, or tyre bead to a damaged to wheel rim to be wear related, they are a hazard of use.

So are caravan manufacturers really cheaping out on tyres? Of course they could spend more, but do they need to on tyres?

 

[Buckman]

I wonder how many people have spare tyres that are well past the 7 year mark, but are never checked for cracking?

 

[shouldknowbettor]

it serves no practical purpose in this case

The purpose would be to inform the rest of us whether these tyres simply failed to make it to their 6th birthday, or whether there's a reasonable explanation.

As someone who buys a few thousand OE tyres a year for manufacturing, I can tell you there are wild quality differences, but often marginal price differences. I can go from a manufacturers cheapest tyre to their most expensive in under $10 price variance. A tyre retailing for nearly double the RRP could be a dollar or two price difference at OE pricing. Of course you cant just spend 10%/20%/50% more across the board buying better everything without increasing the prices by the same, but when you would be spending $25 or $30 per tyre to go from budget to mid spec, $10 or $20 seems well spent on an item that is one of the most basic safety features of the vehicle. The could maybe apply less graphics that will instantly look out of date to the 'vans instead to save some money!

If the OP chose to take that up with the repair shop that would be up to them, although it certainly might inform as to whether to bother using them again. You don't need an ISO certification to maintain basic standards.

 

[Lutz]

I wonder how many people have spare tyres that are well past the 7 year mark, but are never checked for cracking?

Quite a lot I would think.
I must admit that the spare on my caravan has been there ever since I bought it and that was 14 years ago. The others have, of course, been replaced a couple of times since then.

 

[Raywood]

The answer is that it varies and replacement times will do so as well. The current recommendation is that they should be checked at five years and changed at six according to the workshop who have just serviced our caravan.
As I posted on another thread we have had cracking at six years and had the same ones for ten. I do put this down to where the caravans were stored as in the first case it was between the house and a wall and got very little sun and the second in an open storage area where the weather would be more of a factor. Certainly there are variables there although I
knowing what I know now, I cannot see me going to ten ears again.

 

[ProfJohnL]

The purpose would be to inform the rest of us whether these tyres simply failed to make it to their 6th birthday, or whether there's a reasonable explanation.

As someone who buys a few thousand OE tyres a year for manufacturing, I can tell you there are wild quality differences, but often marginal price differences. I can go from a manufacturers cheapest tyre to their most expensive in under $10 price variance. A tyre retailing for nearly double the RRP could be a dollar or two price difference at OE pricing. Of course you cant just spend 10%/20%/50% more across the board buying better everything without increasing the prices by the same, but when you would be spending $25 or $30 per tyre to go from budget to mid spec, $10 or $20 seems well spent on an item that is one of the most basic safety features of the vehicle. The could maybe apply less graphics that will instantly look out of date to the 'vans instead to save some money!

If the OP chose to take that up with the repair shop that would be up to them, although it certainly might inform as to whether to bother using them again. You don't need an ISO certification to maintain basic standards.

Most caravanners do not purchase thousands of tyres, so they rarely have the opportunity or need to evaluate different makes.

Further due to the wide range and unique of use and storage each caravanner has, the experience of one caravanner is unlikely to be perfectly experienced by others, so as I suggested proving the failure mode in this case would only have any practical value if the OP was going to challenge the care the workshop gave to his property whilst entrusted to the dealer.

I do agree that care of customer property should be high priority for a service or repair center, and it shouldn't need compliance to a management standards for it to be employed, But if the dealer was accredited (an unlikely situation) they are more likely to have an active policy about the protection of customer property, and thus there would be a stronger customer case if the dealer's care had been lacking.

 

[Dustydog]

This article opens some interesting pointers, eg CP marked tyres, pressures and cracking.

Caravan, Motorhome & Campervan Tyres | National

National stocks motorhome, campervan and caravan tyres from all the major brands. Home fitting service available. Check the full stock today.

www.national.co.uk

On the whole I have always used Maxiss Trailermaxx tyres which are allegedly specifically for caravan / trailer use.
Looking back on the posts here I wonder if those buying caravan tyres really give much thought to the specific application.

 

[ProfJohnL]

This article opens some interesting pointers, eg CP marked tyres, pressures and cracking.

Caravan, Motorhome & Campervan Tyres | National

National stocks motorhome, campervan and caravan tyres from all the major brands. Home fitting service available. Check the full stock today.

www.national.co.uk

On the whole I have always used Maxiss Trailermaxx tyres which are allegedly specifically for caravan / trailer use.
Looking back on the posts here I wonder if those buying caravan tyres really give much thought to the specific application.

I I presume your referring to the caravan manufacturers. What makes you suspect they don't?

If tyres were found on caravans that were not approved for trailer use, or their load ratings or pressures were incorrect, then I might agree, but I'm not aware of any reports of of such transgressions coming to light.

I am aware there was a period of time when a certain brand of tyre fitted to caravans had a high incidence of failure, but that but wasn't the caravan manufacturers fault, the tyre was marketed as a trailer tyre and the failures were related to a batch of tyres that were shown to be substandard.

 

[otherclive]

This article opens some interesting pointers, eg CP marked tyres, pressures and cracking.

Caravan, Motorhome & Campervan Tyres | National

National stocks motorhome, campervan and caravan tyres from all the major brands. Home fitting service available. Check the full stock today.

www.national.co.uk

On the whole I have always used Maxiss Trailermaxx tyres which are allegedly specifically for caravan / trailer use.
Looking back on the posts here I wonder if those buying caravan tyres really give much thought to the specific application.

Interesting advice wrt tyre change intervals especially for high pressure tyres above 50 psi.

 

[Dustydog]

I I presume your referring to the caravan manufacturers. What makes you suspect they don't?

If tyres were found on caravans that were not approved for trailer use, or their load ratings or pressures were incorrect, then I might agree, but I'm not aware of any reports of of such transgressions coming to light.

I am aware there was a period of time when a certain brand of tyre fitted to caravans had a high incidence of failure, but that but wasn't the caravan manufacturers fault, the tyre was marketed as a trailer tyre and the failures were related to a batch of tyres that were shown to be substandard.

No I was thinking about the owner not the Manufacturer.
The CP was a new one on me and I see no one has mentioned it previously. Those about to renew their tyres will hopefully get some benefit from my post😉

 

[RogerL]

This article opens some interesting pointers, eg CP marked tyres, pressures and cracking.

Caravan, Motorhome & Campervan Tyres | National

National stocks motorhome, campervan and caravan tyres from all the major brands. Home fitting service available. Check the full stock today.

www.national.co.uk

On the whole I have always used Maxiss Trailermaxx tyres which are allegedly specifically for caravan / trailer use.
Looking back on the posts here I wonder if those buying caravan tyres really give much thought to the specific application.

I'd never heard of CP tyre marking until I read your post - but then it is aimed at campervans - I'm baffled why CP is needed in ADDITION to the Load Index which ought to be enough on it's own.

 

[shouldknowbettor]

I'd never heard of CP tyre marking until I read your post - but then it is aimed at campervans - I'm baffled why CP is needed in ADDITION to the Load Index which ought to be enough on it's own

Each tyre size has a standard PSI to achieve its max load rating. For example a 185r14c needs 65psi to achieve its load (900kg normally). CP tyres break these rules by allowing higher pressures to increase load ratings. So it can be worked out through the combo of load rating and max PSI, but by adding the 'p' I guess it's just a reminder that this tyre doesn't follow the convention.